A RARE SILVERY BRONZE MIRROR

TANG DYNASTY (618-907)

Details

A RARE SILVERY BRONZE MIRROR
TANG DYNASTY (618-907)
The loop on the back is cast as the center of a rock formation, perhaps representing a mountain, which is surrounded by flowing water and hills. To one side a musician, possibly Prince Qiao, is seated playing the sheng, as a phoenix with raised tail spreads its wings on the other side, and two long-tailed birds fly above and below the central 'mountain'. The surface has a silvery patina.
5 in. (12.7 cm.) diam.

Provenance

Raymond A. Bidwell (1876-1954) Collection.
The Springfield Museums, Springfield, Massachusetts, accessioned in 1962.

Literature

The Raymond A. Bidwell Collection of Chinese Bronzes and Ceramics, Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1965, pp. 58-59.

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Lot Essay

The decoration may represent the Prince Qiao, the crown prince of King Lin of Zhou, who was said to play so well that he lured the phoenix out of the heavens.
A very similar mirror, dated to the Tang dynasty, in the National Museum of Chinese History, is illustrated in A Journey into China's Antiquity, vol. 3, Beijing, 1997, p. 128, no. 127, where the story of Prince Qiao and the phoenix is described.

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